


The Final Earl, the Destroyer of Time

by sailorstar165



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Could be a little sad too?, Final Battle, Gen, Happy Ending, possible ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorstar165/pseuds/sailorstar165
Summary: Allen would do anything to save Mana and his friends. Even become the being they swore to defeat.
Relationships: Allen Walker & Mana Walker, Allen Walker & Nea D. Campbell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 106





	The Final Earl, the Destroyer of Time

Blade clanged against blade, Innocence against dark matter as Allen and the Earl fought. It hurt, facing his father like this. The man’s eyes were wild, and the mask of the Millennium Earl swallowed half his face. Nea urged him on, a shadow in his mind. _It’s the only way._

Allen dodged the broadsword and thrust forward with all his might. There was no resistance as his sword slid through the Earl’s heart to the hilt. His foe’s eyes widened. A gurgle of blood—black, inhuman—slipped past his lips with a gasp. His weapon slipped from his fingers as he slumped forward into his foe, causing Allen to lose his balance and fall too.

Anyone watching would have seen the Earl’s body contort and a growing pillar like a jagged cross of light engulf the pair as it exploded from the Innocence-infected wound. All Allen saw was white burning his retinas.

The field of wheat Allen found himself in when the spots cleared from his vision was familiar, the same one he’d seen any number of times in Nea’s mind. Instead of finding Nea there, however, the figure huddled beneath the twisted tree was Mana. The grotesque clown mask he’d worn during the battle was gone, and his eyes were dead. His hands tangled in his hair as he muttered to himself, “I didn’t want this,” over and over again.

 _What are you waiting for?_ Nea shouted. _You need to finish this!_

But this man, broken before Allen, was also familiar. It was Mana on one of his bad days. As he stepped forward, it was no longer Allen the exorcist moving through that field, but a child, hair white and scar bleeding as it had when the Akuma Mana had become first cursed him. He could feel the blood running down his face. If he looked down at where it dripped to the ground, he would find the same inhuman black as the Noah’s, but his good eye was only for his father.

“Mana?” It was like a dream. One he’d had any number of times. Allen didn’t question what was happening. He couldn’t hear Nea anymore, could only see Mana before him.

The man’s mantra changed. Over and over, he cried, “I’m not Mana, I’m not Mana.” Each time, the words were more panicked, more insistent. His eyes were wide, unseeing, and still no spark of life. The only sign he was alive was his voice.

Allen stopped maybe a foot from him. His scar pulsed with _something_ , a force or magic Allen didn’t understand. “No,” he found himself saying, “you aren’t him.” His feet moved of their own volition, and warning bells went off in the back of his mind. Was this Nea’s doing? But no, he could feel the panic roiling from within the part of him that was Nea as well. There was a third presence in his mind, _in his scar_ , forcing him forward.

He knelt, shaking, not understanding, and pulled Mana close as his father had done for him when he was a child. His scar throbbed painfully, and for a moment, Allen saw nothing but darkness. He could feel a presence behind him, and vaguely he was aware that he _knew_ this presence. It was the same one from Krory’s castle when his eye had evolved like the Akuma, the one that told him to go deeper into the world of black-and-white. That presence stepped past him.

And then he was back in the wheat field, no longer a child and with Mana’s forehead pressed against his chest. And another, who jerked away with a cry of alarm.

Allen found himself staring into the familiar face of Nea, who looked just as startled and confused as he felt. Mana shifted and pulled back as well, looking more dazed than anything as he took in their surroundings. He wasn’t rambling as he had been before.

After a few moments, Mana broke the tense silence with, “This is… quite unexpected.”

Nea gaped at his brother. “Unexpect—” He stopped, shook his head in dawning comprehension. “This is _impossible_.”

Mana gave a sheepish smile. “The Earl has split before—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” snapped Nea in response. “How? What did you do?”

“I… may have stolen your idea,” the former Earl admitted.

Allen touched his still bleeding scar. Red mixed with black on his fingers. It felt different as well, the raised skin more like a swirl than the sharp, jagged line. “You…” He swallowed thickly, feeling his stomach churn. “This curse…”

Mana couldn’t look him in the eye. “The being you know as the Millennium Earl tried to erase me,” he explained. “When he came to you that day and had you create an Akuma, he placed the piece of him that was me in it so I couldn’t interfere anymore. He probably figured when you destroyed it, I was gone too.”

“And you’ve been tied up in that curse _this whole damn time?!_ ” Nea shouted at him.

“Yes. You didn’t notice?”

The Fourteenth slapped his forehead. “I thought that was _Allen_ getting in my bloody way. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It took you a couple decades to awaken,” Mana reminded him. “I was a broken bit of soul from an Akuma. There wasn’t much I could do.”

The initial shock of Mana being here, really and truly here, was beginning to ebb away. Allen’s voice was hardly above a whisper as he said, “I’m sorry.”

Taken aback, Mana turned from his twin. “For what?”

“I turned you into an Akuma. If I hadn’t…”

“If you hadn’t,” Nea groused, “my life would have been a hell of a lot easier. Then I could’ve erased you like I—” Mana flicked Nea’s forehead. “Ouch!”

“I wouldn’t forgive you if you had,” he chided before turning back to his adopted son. “You were a child, Allen. You didn’t know any better. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine for letting the Earl fool you.”

“Ugh, enough with the blame game, you two.” Nea rubbed is forehead. “We have more important things to deal with right now.”

Mana tilted his head. “Like what?”

Nea gestured at the field around them. “Like getting out of here. Allen destroyed the Noah inside you—inside _us—_ with that fancy sword of his.”

The former Earl’s eyes widened in horror. “Then the pillar—”

“Probably sucked us in. We’re screwed if we don’t get the hell out of here. And _someone_ ,” he added, glaring at his brother, “threw a bloody wrench in my plans, so we’re stuck.”

“Stuck? What do you mean, _stuck_?” Nea had assured Allen he knew what he was doing, that he’d known a way to save Mana and prevent the pillar from destroying everything.

“The Earl exists to hold back the pillar,” he began, restating what Allen already knew. “With no Earl, there’s nothing preventing the pillar from doing what it did in the last world.”

“Then become the Earl! That’s what you wanted all along, wasn’t it?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Nea rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not a Noah anymore. When your Innocence destroyed the Noah inside Mana, that apparently included the Noah in this body that he ‘ate’ back then. I can’t exactly usurp the title if I’m not part of that entity anymore.”

His heart nearly stopped at the news. “Then the world’s going to end? Just like that?” They’d failed. They’d saved Mana, only to condemn everyone, including the very man they’d sought to rescue from this fate. Allen clenched his hands into fists, nails digging little crescent moons into his palm. No. He wouldn’t let that happen.

Allen climbed to his feet and activated his Innocence. Crown Clown thrummed to life around him. There had to be some way to dispel the pillar. A core or something to the magic that if they could find, he could exorcize with his blade the way he had the Noah.

“Stabbing it’s not going to work,” Nea informed him. “There’s nothing to stab. This whole place is the pillar.”

“I have to do _something_ ,” Allen bit out. He was an exorcist. A destroyer who saved. He’d find a way. “I can’t let it end like this.”

“Then don’t,” came Mana’s voice, so quiet the pair almost missed it. When their gazes snapped to him, he elaborated, “Allen could become the Earl.”

“There’s no way in hell,” Nea stated flatly, “that kid can be the Earl.”

Part of Allen felt he ought to be offended by that statement, but the man had a point. He hadn’t been too thrilled before with the idea of Nea using his body to replace the Earl. To the point where he’d been wracking his brain to figure out how to avoid that fate. There was also the little fact that Nea wasn’t a part of him anymore. Without Nea, he was just a human with Innocence inside his hand.

But Mana shook his head. “It has to be him. He’s the only one left connected to Adam—to the Earl.”

“ _How?_ ” Nea spat. “If I’m over here, he doesn’t have my memories anymore, and with you there, he doesn’t have you twisted up in that weird curse of his. There’s no connection.”

“He’s still a Noah, and he’s tied to both of us.”

The protest died on Allen’s lips. Because of Nea, he was indeed a Noah no matter how much he denied it. An extra and outcast of the Noah clan, the same as Nea had been. Perhaps that would be enough to take the title, but… “There has to be another way.”

Nea let out a snort of laughter. “What, is becoming the Earl not enough to satisfy your martyr complex?”

“I’m an exorcist. I can’t be the Earl.” The very thought made him sick.

“You mean you don’t _want_ to be,” Nea corrected him. He sighed. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do—”

“You were going to use me to become the Earl!” Allen snapped back.

“Regardless,” Mana started, instantly silencing the two, “it is the only choice we have.” Once again, he couldn’t look Allen in the eye. “I never wanted it to come to this.”

Allen looked between the two and heaved a sigh. Crown Clown vanished, and he stepped forward. “Tell me what I need to do.”

* * *

The Akuma had frozen with the appearance of the pillar. The exorcists and Noah, too, could only stand and stare at the sight as it grew and pulsed with light that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end. Whatever it was, it was _wrong_ and sent a shudder of primordial fear through everyone who laid eyes on it.

Agonizing minutes passed where no one could so much as speak. Then cracks began to appear. At the sight of the massive _thing_ fracturing, Lenalee was the first to move. Innocence activated, she raced to the base and arrived just in time for it to flake away and dissolve. And from the center of the great cross appeared Allen.

Without a second thought, Lenalee leapt into the air and caught him. Then she saw the two other individuals that were currently plummeting to earth. Before she could act, Crown Clown appeared in a flurry of white, and the tendrils of Allen’s cape caught the two. The force of the tendrils snapping taut was enough to nearly jerk Allen out of her arms, but she held firm. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Who are they?”

Allen gave her a pained smile. “It’s a long story.”

Her brow knit together in concern. “You’re going to explain all of this later,” she informed him before stepping off the soundwaves she precariously balanced on with her Dark Boots. They dropped a few meters before she caught another, then another, using each as a steppingstone to get them down safely.

Once he saw the two former Noah safely on the ground, Allen deactivated his Innocence with a small sigh of relief. When Lenalee set him down, his legs gave out. Mana was there in an instant to catch him before he hit the ground.

“Allen!” Lenalee cried as panic gripped her. “What’s—?”

“He’s just tired.” Mana assured her as he lowered Allen to sit in the grass. “He’ll be fine with a little rest.”

Nea scoffed as he scanned the edge of the clearing they found themselves in. “We don’t have time for this.”

“What makes you say that?”

He pointed. “Because we’re forgetting a certain sadistic little girl.”

Allen’s head shot up. Across the clearing from them stood Road, cheeks stained with tears and still sniffling a little. Her gold eyes slid from where Mana still held Allen to Nea, then back. If she wondered how both the Campbell twins were present, she didn’t ask. Instead, she smiled and stepped toward them. Nea held up his fists—as if that would do anything against her—but she walked right past him.

She stopped before the father-and-son pair, ignoring both Nea and Lenalee as she knelt before their new Earl. She said something then, but it was garbled to Allen’s ears. The world pitched sickeningly, and Allen knew no more.

* * *

For what felt like ages, Allen was only vaguely aware of warmth weighing heavily upon him, engulfing him. It was a softness that held him, and if not for the sense of urgency to awaken, he would have been content to lay within its folds for longer. But his head ached and his arm—his left arm—felt disconcertingly numb.

There was a brief moment, one excruciating moment, when Allen wondered if this was what falling felt like. He’d become the Earl, the enemy to humanity and the Innocence, even if it had been to save everyone. Perhaps Crown Clown would judge him harshly for choosing his friends and family over his duty. But what kind of duty was it that condemned the very world he swore to protect to destruction? Nea had told him, had told everyone, what would happen if Innocence killed the Earl. This war was a game the humans could only lose. That’s why they needed Nea, the extra piece, to take up the mantle of Millennium Earl.

He wondered if falling would count as killing the Earl, if by holding on to his Innocence he was once again dooming humanity. Something, not Allen, gently banished the thought and pressed him to stop thinking of such things. It tried to lull him to sleep, but Allen, panicked by this presence that wasn’t his own or Nea’s, fought against it. It withdrew as quickly as it had come, leaving Allen alone once more.

Slowly, his senses returned to him even if he couldn't open his eyes. He was tucked into a bed. The warmth weighing him down was a quilt, soft and smelling strongly of lavender. There were voices around him discussing… something, but try as he might, his sleep-addled brain couldn’t comprehend the words. A cool cloth laid across his forehead. Someone occasionally stroked his hair and spoke quietly to him in a low murmur.

He hated this helplessness. It was too much like when he’d destroyed Mana's Akuma and lost the will to live. Now he had a reason. He had to keep walking, no matter where to. He had to save the souls trapped within Akuma. He had to keep the pillar locked away inside him. And for that, he had to _live_.

There was a small chuckle on the edge of his consciousness. It was a familiar feeling, having had Nea in his mind for so long. He tried to call out to Nea, but even in his mind, it felt weak.

The presence seemed amused by this effort. _Hate to break it to you, but Nea’s not in your head anymore._

Allen knew that voice. _“Go away, Wisely.”_ That came out stronger, more distinct. Maybe because he was annoyed.

_You’ve been asleep a while, Millennie. Thought you might like someone to keep you company._

_“Don’t call me that.”_

Wisely continued as if he hadn’t heard. _You know, your friends are worried about you. That Lenalee girl comes by all the time to check on you._

Allen balled his hands into fists. He wasn’t sure if that extended to reality or just to this dream. _“If you’ve hurt her—”_

 _Wouldn’t dream of it. You’re the Earl now, so we’ve all been on our_ best _behavior. The Akuma, too. We’ve agreed to a ceasefire until you wake up and take command._

_“How thoughtful.”_

He could sense Wisely’s grin, even if he couldn’t see it. _Yup. So take your time waking up. It’s kind of fun having all this downtime._

Having the Noah of Wisdom teasing him just made Allen even more determined to get out of whatever headspace this was and _wake up_. Again, he heard Wisely chuckle, but this time he was pretty sure that was reality and not his mind games. Especially when he heard—and actually understood, this time—a familiar girl’s voice scold the Demon Eye for trying to mess with Allen while he was resting.

Somehow, Allen managed to turn his head. His eyes fluttered open. “Lena…lee?” His voice was hoarse from disuse, and his vision blurred. Just how long had he been out?

“About two weeks,” Wisely answered his unspoken question and earned himself a sharp _whack_ on the head. He winced and rubbed the spot Lenalee had smacked.

Lenalee ignored the glare Wisely sent her way. “How are you feeling?” she asked Allen instead.

If he were honest, a little weirded out. Seeing Lenalee getting along so well—as in, at all—with a Noah, even one as weak as Wisely (to this, Wisely tried to protest but quickly shut up at a look from Lenalee) was something Allen never thought he’d see.

Realizing she was still waiting for an answer, Allen admitted, “I’m a little tired, but I’ll be fine.” He tried to sit up, but both Wisely and Lenalee pressed hands against his chest to keep him down. So they were working together now, too? “No really, I’m fine.”

The pair exchanged glances—seriously, _how_ were they getting along like this?—and moved to help Allen instead. Despite his protests, they propped him up with pillows he swore he didn’t need even as the dizziness threatened to overwhelm him. Neither were falling for his reassuring smile, so he let it drop and stared at his hands on the coverlet. His Innocence felt strange to him now that he was the Earl. A little cold, but not painful as he might expect if he was going to fall. He tried to move the fingers of his hand and found it stiff and awkward, like when he was a child just starting his apprenticeship with Cross.

Satisfied that Allen wasn’t going anywhere, Lenalee took a seat at his bedside. She noticed him wiggling his fingers and said, as if she too could read his mind, “We had Hevlaska check it out. It was… hard to convince the Noah to let us take you to her, but…” she trailed off. “It’s still synchronized with you. Your synchronization rate isn’t dangerously low or anything, but we don’t know if you could use it as an anti-Akuma weapon anymore.”

“The Earl using Innocence would be ridiculous,” scoffed Wisely. “You’re lucky we didn’t just destroy it in the first place.” He winced at the emotions rolling off Allen at that remark. Pouting childishly, he told Allen, “We wouldn’t have done it. We know how you feel about that stuff.”

Allen pushed back the anger and fear. “Why didn’t Hevlaska take it?” That seemed far safer than letting him keep it. Especially with the Noah hanging around.

“I don’t know everything,” Lenalee replied, “but from what my brother said, it sounds like she couldn’t remove it.”

“Couldn’t?”

Wisely, who’d been feigning disinterest while playing with his frog, explained, “It invoked whenever she tried.” Feeling the accusing eyes of two exorcists upon him, he said in his defense, “I didn’t mindread that one. I overheard Nea and Komui talking.”

Lenalee heaved a tired sigh. “I’m going to kill them, and I’ve read enough novels to know where to hide the bodies.”

“And you could always bring them back as Akuma to kill them again,” Wisely chimed in. He groaned and clutched his head at both exorcists’ mental onslaught. “I was joking! _Joking!_ ”

Allen was about to make a biting retort, but the door opened, revealing Road and Tyki. The little girl skipped across the room and flung herself into Allen, knocking the wind out of him when he tried and failed to catch her. “You’re awake!” she squealed.

Tyki pulled her off, much to her disappointment. “Reign it in, Road. He’s still recovering.”

Road pouted, and once again, Allen was struck by how calm Lenalee was despite sharing a room with three Noah—four, he amended, if he counted himself. Which he supposed he’d have to from now on. He caught Wisely smothering snickers at his thoughts despite still looking a little green from the migraine they’d inflicted upon him at his joke.

Deciding not to dwell on that, Allen asked a question that had been nagging at him since his vision cleared, “Where are we?” They couldn’t be at the Black Order. For one thing, the Noah would _never_ be allowed within their walls. Not like this, anyway. For another, everything in the room reeked of money, reminding Allen more of the gaudy suites Cross would choose for himself and his lovers than the sparse cells of the Order. Again, Wisely bit back snickers, and again, Allen wished he would stop doing that.

“My house,” Road replied, slipping out of Tyki’s grip and hopping on the bed to hug Allen—more gently, this time. “Mana didn’t think the Order would like us keeping you on our Ark, so we made a compromise.”

Allen didn’t have the strength to push Road away as she clung to him. Resigned to his fate as teddy bear for the moment, he asked, “And everyone is okay with this?”

Tyki lit a cigarette. “Not really, but Lord Campbell has been doing his best to smooth ruffled feathers.”

 _Lord Campbell?_ He must mean Mana. It was strange, seeing Mana in this new light. He’d only known his father as a wandering clown. Even knowing of his past, of his time as Mana D. _Campbell_ before he’d been _Walker_ , it hadn’t seemed real until now.

The door opened, drawing their attention once more. This time, it was Komui, dressed in a suit and tie and looking a little out of breath. Mana stood just behind him, as did Nea.

“Quite the party you’re having in here,” the former Fourteenth commented, his tone light and teasing.

“Road,” Mana said, “Chief Lee and I have things we need to discuss with Allen. Why don’t you and the others have tea with Tricia?”

Her arms tightened around him. “Aww, but I wanna stay with Allen!”

Tyki rolled his eyes and hefted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He gave a curt nod of acknowledgement to Komui as they passed, and Wisely and Lenalee followed close behind, though not without a worried look from the female exorcist.

The door closed with a soft click, leaving Allen with his latest visitors. Komui sat in Lenalee’s seat, while Mana took Wisely’s. Nea leaned against the far wall, looking bored. Allen attempted to sit up straighter without the aid of the pillows, but as before with the others, Mana gently pressed him back.

“There’s no need for you to get up.” It was the same tone Mana had used when he was a kid. One that left no room for argument. Allen sighed and settled back.

Komui cleared his throat. “Lord Campbell has informed us of the situation. You’ve taken the title of Millennium Earl and sealed the…” he hesitated, cleared his throat again, “the ‘pillar’ inside of you.”

Allen nodded. He already knew that. What he didn’t understand was the worried expression on Mana and Komui’s faces as they watched his reaction to the news.

Nea stepped away from the wall he was propping up. “I already _told_ you he doesn’t have Noah’s memories. Stop testing him and just say what you need to.”

 _Test?_ Allen looked between Komui and Nea. “What do you—”

Impatient as ever, Nea interrupted. “The core of Noah’s memory is that pillar inside you.” An evil grin spread across his features. “Try mentioning it to one of the others and watch the fireworks.”

“Don’t,” Mana warned, though the reprimand was aimed more at his brother than Allen. Then for Allen’s benefit, he explained, “As Neah said, the core of the memories is the pillar destroying the world. If you bring it up, the Noah won’t react well.”

“And before you ask,” added Nea, “that sword of yours destroyed the Noah in us, not its memories in Mana. He still knows everything the Earl did. I never had them to begin with.”

But what about those dreams when he’d seen the pillar? Allen hesitated before asking, “I don’t have Noah’s memories, but I _know_ I’ve seen the pillar before. Why?”

Three sets of eyes widened at this news. Nea’s slid to his brother. “Side effect of your curse?” he suggested.

“It must be.” Komui nodded to himself. “Though, you knew about the pillar, didn’t you?” He looked to Nea for confirmation.

A shrug. “An incomplete copy of Noah’s memories. No more real than a drawing or a photograph.”

“Then perhaps the curse combined with your memories when it interfered with your attempts at possessing Allen,” Komui suggested, excitement building. “Then Allen could know things without actually _knowing_ them.”

Nea stared at the scientist, then let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re making less sense than usual.”

But the scientist was already plotting other tests he could run. He would have kept going, too, if Mana hadn’t coughed to draw his attention. “I believe there were other things we needed to discuss?”

“Ah, yes. Sorry.” He took a moment to recall where they had left the conversation before the tangent, then started explaining where things stood.

Some of it Allen had already learned from Lenalee and Wisely: Allen had been asleep for two weeks; he was still an accommodator; and the Noah clan and Order had agreed to a ceasefire that stuck despite grumblings on both sides. Much of it was new information: the story the Noah clan had crafted to account for Allen being Mana’s long lost adopted son and Nea’s reappearance despite having been missing for almost four decades (the Order had helped with this one, yada-yada-ing something about an Innocence that somehow flung Nea into the future); the fact that Allen should be able to command the Akuma now that he had awoken as a proper Noah (panicked by this, Allen had touched his forehead and found the same stigmata the rest of the Noah had); and most disconcerting of all, the possibility that he was now _immortal_.

The trio had tried to brush past this, maybe after his not-so-great reaction to the idea that he was a Noah like the rest of his adoptive ‘family.’ Allen blanched and stopped them with a faint, “What do you mean by _immortal?_ ”

Mana glanced at Nea, hoping his twin might offer an explanation that would sit well with Allen. When he didn’t, the former Earl said, “It’s a possibility. The Earl can only be killed by Innocence, which releases the pillar. Adam, the first disciple of Noah before us, lived 7,000 years before he disappeared by splitting into Nea and me. We weren’t ageless until the Earl swallowed Nea and became whole again.”

“I don’t understand.” Allen was feeling dizzy again, like he was going to faint. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Nea was eaten when you were my age. You’re older.”

“In a fit of madness, I destroyed my previous form,” Mana replied sadly. “The Earl can’t die, so I changed. I’ve looked exactly like this since.”

Then Nea commented, perhaps in an attempt at levity, “I just hope you _changed_ and didn’t make yourself older. I do _not_ want to look like that when I’m your age.”

It fell flat, but the tension cracked for now. Mana forced a small chuckle and a smile. “As I said, it’s only a possibility. We don’t know for sure. Even Wisely can’t say, and he’s the Noah of Wisdom.”

“Besides,” Nea added, “you’re already way older than you look. What’s a few more centuries as a teenager?”

Some might find immortality a tempting offer, but not Allen. All he could think of was the pain he felt when he lost Mana. Having to experience that again and again as those around him grew old and died… he wasn’t sure he could handle it. No wonder the original Millennium Earl had ended his endless existence by splitting in two.

Somewhere in the house, the clock chimed the hour. Four o’clock. Komui glanced at his watch to confirm. “Perhaps we should call it a day. You’re still recovering.”

That again. Allen caught Komui’s sleeve as the man made to leave. “Can I ask what I’m recovering from?”

“We don’t know,” the scientist admitted. “Our theory is that the act of sealing the pillar overwhelmed you. From what Lord Campbell said, he had similar… let’s call them flare ups as a child due to only having half the Earl’s power to keep the pillar at bay.”

In other words, Allen’s body had shut down anything unnecessary to quell the power inside him. He didn’t like the sound of that.

At his grimace, Mana said, “It should improve as you get used to it. It just might take a while to get your strength back.”

A while, it turned out, was almost a month. It took another week just to sit up of his own volition, another to be able to hobble—with assistance—around the Kamelot estate. On these occasional outings, Road introduced him to Tricia, her adopted mother, another person of delicate health. She knew nothing of the Akuma nor the Noah, and so Road and Wisely asked he keep that under wraps when they had tea together. After a month, he was able to get around on his own for short distances, though he needed a walking stick to lean on.

The ceasefire continued, even though the more violent Noah begged Allen to let them kill humans with the Akuma. He stubbornly refused their requests. Though the pain of the curse had abated, he still saw the souls within the Akuma that acted as maids around the estate, still saw their suffering, and his arm ached to save them. Crown Clown wouldn’t activate, however, and when he’d asked Mana whether he could use his position as the Earl to free the souls, the man had said that only Innocence could break the bond forged by tragedy.

Members of the Order would check in regularly on Allen, likely to make sure he hadn’t become a psychopath intent on breaking the ceasefire agreement and murdering everyone. As it was, a CROW stayed close at all times (often Link, but sometimes others) to make sure promises were being kept. Exorcists, too, came and went, as did Johnny, though the strain was always apparent on their faces with what Allen had become. Allen could understand why, but it was difficult not to feel hurt that they looked at him as a possible future enemy.

Then, something unexpected happened. A tutor was trying to catch Allen up on the rules of society—what with him being the son of an _actual_ earl now—when he felt something inside him snap. The pain was so sharp, he gasped and felt tears forming in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks as he grasped his chest. The tutor, startled, hurried to get someone as Link stayed behind to help.

Minutes later, the door to the parlor burst open and Road careened into Allen’s arms, sobbing. A few of the others peeked their heads in, also sniffling.

“It’s Tryde,” she whispered, clearly shaken. “All of a sudden, Noah’s Judgment just… _disappeared._ ”

He wasn’t the last either. One by one over the course of months, the different memories of Noah blinked out of existence, and each time it was accompanied by the sharp pain and tears for the remainder of the clan. It left their former hosts shaken and suddenly without purpose, but alive and human. It was like Allen’s sword had pierced each one, even though Crown Clown refused to appear.

Wisely had a theory, and it clearly disturbed the Demon Eye that he didn’t know for certain. “That Innocence is using the bond you have with us to destroy us from the inside,” he said of Allen’s arm. “We need to get rid of it.”

Nea had a different idea, and he had no problem being direct about it. Though he did make sure only Road and Wisely were present of the remaining Noah when he asked the question. “Wisely, you can sense the pillar in Allen, right? What’s it doing?”

The Noah’s memories had reacted harshly to the word and made them double-over in pain as it assaulted their minds in pure rage. Wisely took a shuddering breath to control it, then reached out with his power. His eyes, all five, widened. “It’s weakened.” He looked to the former Fourteenth for explanation.

“That guardian Hevlaska predicted that my dear nephew would be the Destroyer of Time,” he said. “Obviously it wasn’t killing the Earl of Millennium, since he took the title _._ ”

Mana, too, stared wide-eyed at his brother. “You mean to say that the prophecy referred to the reason for the Earl’s existence in the first place?”

“Could be. He’s not exactly going to trigger the apocalypse himself after all. He'll be ending an era with this, if nothing else.”

Without the Noah, the pillar couldn’t exist in this world, Allen came to understand. They were two sides of the same coin, and with each Noah’s destruction, Wisely reported that it grew weaker and weaker. At least, until Wisdom too was gone from this world.

This also had an effect no one expected. The Akuma were breaking, their souls freed in the aftermath even without the Innocence's help. The Innocence, too, was starting to vanish from the world, Komui reported, much to the Noah’s bafflement. At least, until Mana connected the dots and realized that the pillar had been the Heart all along.

“How did nobody know that?” Johnny asked when he and Lenalee joined them for tea one afternoon.

“It’s possible the original Earl knew,” Mana replied, “and the knowledge was lost when he split. Nea and I did not inherit the majority of Adam’s memories when we were born.”

When at last Allen was the final Noah remaining and his arm the last piece of Innocence, he feared what would happen. Would the pillar truly vanish? And what about his arm? He’d never regained full control of it, but the thought of losing it, cold and lifeless as it had become, was frightening.

Knowing it was inevitable did nothing to make it any easier when it happened. He felt the familiar snap, sharp and painful as all the other times, but accompanied by his arm shattering. Allen must have lost consciousness as well, for the next thing he knew, he was tucked into his sickbed with an unconcerned Nea at his bedside eating the apple that was probably meant for him.

“You really need to stop doing that, dearest nephew,” he said without the least bit of sincerity. “Keep it up and we might have to invest in more fainting couches.”

Not in the mood to deal with his uncle’s sass, Allen turned his back to Nea and sighed at the remaining stump of his arm. Nea just shrugged and continued crunching on his stolen apple.

After a few minutes of silence broken only by Nea’s snacking, Allen asked, “What am I supposed to do now?” For so long, he’d lived for others. To save the Akuma. To protect humanity. Now that his reason to live was gone, what else was there?

Nea didn’t have a satisfying answer for him. “How should I know? Run off and join the circus. Get laid. I don’t care.”

Allen rolled back over and stared at his uncle. “I’m starting to see why you got along with my master so well,” was all he could say.

Nea snorted. “We learned to put up with each other, that’s all.” Then, more seriously, he said, “If you can’t figure out how to live for yourself, you can keep living for others. Start by getting those bored scientists from the Order to make you a prosthetic arm. Then you can open an orphanage or something. There’s plenty you can do without putting your life on the line, you know.”

“And if all else fails,” Allen said, trying to keep his tone light in spite of everything he felt, “I can be like Mana and go back to being a traveling performer.”

Nea grinned. “That’s the spirit. Mana and I might even join you for that. It’s way too stuffy here, dealing with Sheril breathing down our necks.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was just me turning some of my theories into a semi-coherent ending and wanting to give everyone a somewhat happy ending. If any of this turns out to be even close to the actual ending, I will be shocked. Then I will brag to any of my friends who will listen that I guessed right.
> 
> (And please do comment with your thoughts and how you think things will end up in DGM. It's lonely in this void known as the internet and I love hearing from you!)


End file.
